Rosamunde Pilcher, who was born as Rosamunde Scott on September 22, 1924, in Lelant, Cornwall, UK, is a renowned British author of romance novels. She began writing at the young age of seven and saw her first story published when she was only eighteen. After attending secretarial school, Pilcher served with the Women's Naval Service from 1943 to 1946.
Pilcher's first book, a romance novel, was published in 1949 by Mills & Boon under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. She published a further ten novels under that name before beginning to write under her married name, Rosamunde Pilcher, in 1955. By 1965, she had transitioned to using her own name for all of her novels. Her career as a novelist spanned over five decades, during which she published a total of 28 romance novels and mainstream women's fiction.
Pilcher's breakthrough novel, "The Shell Seekers," was published in 1987 and brought her significant success and recognition. She has stated that writing played a crucial role in saving her marriage to Graham Hope Pilcher, a war hero and jute industry executive who passed away in 2009. The couple had two daughters and two sons together, and Pilcher is also a grandmother to fourteen grandchildren. Her son, Robin Pilcher, is also a novelist.
In 1996, Pilcher's novel "Coming Home" won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. She retired from writing in 2000 following the publication of "Winter Solstice." In 1995, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to literature. Pilcher passed away in 2019, leaving behind a legacy as a beloved and successful author of romance novels.